Hearts for Your Valentine / How to Sprinkle "Love" on Your Cakes

Valentine's day is just around the corner and you would like to make a pretty heart-shaped cake for your sweetheart. But you don't have a heart-shaped pan. No worries, just sprinkle some powdered sugar, sugar sprinkles or cocoa powder on your cake and there, love is all around!!

This is how you sprinkle "love":
If you are decorating a cake with icing, make sure the icing has set properly.
Take a parchment paper and cut out a heart-shaped design on it.

[Parchment paper  should be used because it sticks easily to the icing and can be peeled off easily too. If the cake does not have icing then you may have to grease the parchment cut-outs with a little oil or butter so that they stick easily to the cake].

Place either the heart design or the outline on the cake. In a small strainer, pour a little powdered sugar / coloured sugar crystles / cocoa powder (contrasting the colour of the cake / icing). Sprinkle on the cake.
[I circle the back of a spoon or fork in the strainer so that it doesn't fall all over. If you are using thicker sugar sprinkles that don't pass through a sieve, sprinkle them directly. Also, if you are sprinkling powdered sugar then do so just before you serve. If you refrigerate it, the powdered sugar will melt and disappear!!]

Remove the design and ta-da!!

You can decorate  a large cake with little hearts all over. You can even decorate your plates or cake-boards with designs of your choice. Go ahead, impress your Valentine!

Homemade Ghee / How to make Ghee

This post is for those of you who (like me) have never made butter at home but would like to try your hand at making ghee. The ghee here is made with store-bought butter which comes in slabs or "sticks" as they call it here. Each stick is 1/2 a cup so I have totally used 2 cups (453g). You can easily reduce or increase the portions and the cooking time will vary accordingly. 

Also, the store-bought butter (ateast the ones we get here) don't leave behind as much residue as the homemade ones and it is easier to clean the pan once done. If you are using home-made butter you may want to use a kadai as opposed to the regular vessel I have used. Don't use high heat to quicken the process, the butter could burn and stubbornly stick to your pan.

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 sticks, 453g) unsalted butter [I used Kirkland]

Method :

In a deep bottomed pan, melt butter on medium or medium low heat.

Once the butter melts completely you will see froth forming on top and you will hear hissing and crackling sound which will go on for a few minutes. Stir once in a while.

The milk solids will now start separating and the foam will start clearing. Stir every minute. Simmer. Watch carefully. After a few minutes, you will start getting a nice aroma and you will notice light to medium brown residue on the sides and bottom of the pan. [Scoop out some ghee from the bottom of the pan to check]. This means the ghee is done. Remove from flame when you see [and only after you see] this residue. Otherwise they will get darker and the ghee will also get darker and have a burnt smell.

Sometimes people add turmeric leaves for a nicer aroma and a pinch of salt towards the end so that the particles don't stick to the pan. 

Allow to cool a bit. Using a strainer transfer the ghee into a glass or steel container. [You may want to avoid plastic container if the ghee hasn't cooled completely. You can always transfer it once the ghee cools down]. Strain again if required.

The ghee will solidify in a few hours.